#DigitalFrontiers podcast: AI, law and technology insights

Our new #DigitalFrontiers podcast brings together influential voices to share their expert insights and practical wisdom on the intersection of law, AI and emerging technology.

Hosted by our Partner and technology law expert Richard Nicholas, #DigitalFrontiers features down-to-earth conversations with leaders from the legal sector and beyond, exploring the human side of AI innovation and digital transformation.

Episode 3: Building the parachute for AI adoption

What if your business is already causing harm with AI - and no one on your team has noticed yet?

In this conversation Richard Nicholas is joined by Sidrah Hassan, an AI ethicist and consultant who helps organisations adopt AI with the governance and ethical foundations that most businesses skip entirely. In this episode, she and Richard Nicholas cut through the noise: why ethics is not red tape, what real AI incidents look like in practice -from racially discriminatory facial recognition to AI-driven workplace bias and why the lawyers and leaders who act now will be the ones who stand out when the fallout arrives.

Sidrah draws on recognised frameworks including the NIST framework and the EU AI Act to show how transparency, accountability, and safety are not abstract ideals but practical tools and with international AI governance work that has reached the United Nations, she brings a perspective that is as global as it is grounded.

Her prediction is stark: a sharp rise in AI-related harms over the next three to five years, with minority and vulnerable groups bearing the greatest burden, a pattern she links to the spike in road fatalities that preceded automotive regulation. The question is not whether your organisation will face scrutiny. It is whether you built the parachute before you needed it.

Essential listening for in-house lawyers and general counsel navigating AI adoption, regulation, and organisational responsibility.

Episode 2: AI ROI for in‑house lawyers

What if your legal team could deliver core work 10 times faster without sacrificing quality?

In this conversation, Richard Nicholas and Steve Cunningham of Simple Academy reveal how "you plus AI" transforms everyday legal tasks into structured, high-quality outputs through practical workflows rather than magic buttons.

Discover the AI performance matrix that maps your work into clear competencies and repeatable workflows. Learn how to assign AI the heavy cognitive lifting whilst you retain judgement and legal responsibility. The result? Consistent quality, faster cycles, and more time for strategy.

Drawing on his experience, Steve challenges the "turkey problem" - the dangerous belief that tomorrow will resemble yesterday and demonstrates why AI can handle far more than summaries. He maps a critical market shift called AI insourcing: as cognitive power becomes abundant, organisations will pull routine work in-house. The lawyers who thrive will run end-to-end workflows and translate business goals into reliable, AI-accelerated processes.

Episode 1: Boardrooms, AI and better decisions

What if your board meetings had a relentless, unbiased memory that asked the questions everyone else missed? In this conversation with Richard Nicholas and Non-Executive Director and Educator Shirley Chowdhary reveals a practical, five-pillar framework for governing AI that transforms the boardroom from minute-taking to strategic thinking. 

Shirley shows how AI can become a live thinking partner that raises decision quality whilst maintaining control over risk, ethics, and accountability. From deploying grounded models that evaluate meetings and challenge groupthink to rethinking core business models, she demonstrates where the real edge lies - not just in efficiency, but in revisiting your value proposition itself.

Drawing on extensive governance experience, Shirley offers concrete guidance on the essentials most organisations overlook: AI's environmental footprint, workforce reskilling as a board-level priority, data lineage and decision audit trails, and practical steps for managing data sovereignty and model concentration risk. Her two-track approach equips both management and directors with AI tools that sharpen debate, ensure auditability, and keep humans firmly in the loop - delivering boards that think bigger, act faster, and earn trust in the age of AI.